23 Sep 2019

As part of its corporate social responsibility endeavours, Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) office in Maun has donated full school uniforms, clothes, school bags, sanitary towels and toiletries to needy pupils in Makalamabedi.

The beneficiaries were nine Makalamabedi Primary School pupils and one from Makalamabedi Junior Secondary School. 

The organisation also planted trees at the primary school as a gesture of goodwill. 

Speaking during the handing over ceremony at the primary school, Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Kostantinos Markus hailed DCEC employees for demonstrating love, care and compassion towards society’s needy. 

He said DCEC was one of the organisations which had heeded the president’s call to extend a helping hand to the under privileged, adding that sharing the little they had with beneficiaries was a welcome gesture that government had nurtured and cherished from time immemorial. 

The donation, he said, would make a difference in the lives of beneficiaries and also ensure a conducive learning environment, saying the donation of school uniforms would promote uniformity and equality of pupils who would then focus their energies towards producing desirable results. 

“Through this gesture we will realise the national goal of transforming from a mineral-based to a knowledge-based economy,” he said. 

Mr Markus challenged parents to play their role in children’s education by creating time to know what their children learnt at school and ensure they did their home works. 

DCEC senior assistant director of public education, Mr Dominic Khame said the spirit of giving was a characteristic rooted in various cultures in Botswana. 

He said it was a gesture inculcated by the nation’s founding fathers and one of the practices that had assisted in keeping corruption at bay through improvement of lives and uplifting those in need through customs such as metshelo and mafisa. 

Mr Khame said from time immemorial, Batswana had been known as a compassionate nation with CSR initiatives being adopted by both the private and government departments.

The organisation, he said, had for years been giving to the less privileged. DCEC in Maun, he said, through the staff and welfare committee hatched a plan to contribute donations to underprivileged students. 

The undertaking was intended for three schools in Maun, owing to the dire basic needs of some students within those schools. Mr Khame said employees found it fit to pledge and embark on income generating activities to raise funds and applauded them for their dedication and support. 

“This will go a long way in augmenting other initiatives by different role players in order to ultimately steer Botswana towards prosperity for all as envisaged and endorsed by essentials of Vision 2036. So far DCEC has done several of such activities,” he said. 

Makalamabedi Primary School is one of the Ngamiland schools that are performing well both academically and in extra-curriculum activities. 

In last year’s Primary School Leaving Examinations, the school got an 80 per cent ABC pass rate. Acting school head, Ms Kesiregile Nkapana thanked DCEC for the donation, saying it would motivate pupils to work even harder. 

Furthermore, she mentioned some challenges such as lack of a photocopying machine. Ends